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An
Aztec in Demand……
 Coach
Kirby
The Bristol Aztecs
youth team has been one of the most successful in the country in recent
years, losing only one game last year, the national youth final in overtime
against the London Warriors.
Ben Herod has been
the key man behind the team, as head coach and defensive co-ordinator
winning the BAFA youth coach of the year in 2005, and helping the club
committee secure several thousand pounds in grants for the youth team
in 2005/2006.
Damon Kirby
Another person who
has been instrumental in the teams success, is Damon Kirby, the teams
Offensive co-ordinator, who has a wealth of experience in not just UK
American football in general, but specifically youth football. Damon was
the HC of the perennially tough London Blitz youth team, which produced
not only Lorn Mayers who has since progressed onto the Berlin Thunder,
and Oakland Riders, but also 2005 BAFL MVP Jason Brisbane.
When Coach Kirby moved
to the Bristol Area in late 2004, Coach Herod wasted no time in securing
his services, knowing only too well what a great coach he was, not only
having coached against Damon, but also having been coached by him during
his time as a Great Britain Crusaders WR while Damon was his positional
coach in 1998.
During his tenure
as OC, Coach Kirby has been a strong proponent of the ‘Single-Wing’ offense,
which is a diverse, and varied offense which does not feature a designated
quarterback in the traditional sense, but utilises multiple formations,
direct shotgun snaps, and a heavy dose of misdirection to throw opposing
defense off balance.
The Aztec Youth Single
Wing scored 306 points in 2 exhibition games, 7 regular season games,
and 2 playoff games, an average of 29 points per game.
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Aided by the stingy
defense, which conceded only 69 points over the same number of games,
an average of only 6 points per game.
Invited to Pennsylvania
The success of the
Aztec Single Wing has not gone un-noticed, and the committed single wing
devotees in the USA are well and truly aware of the success the offense
has been having across the pond. After initiating contact with several
other Single Wing coaches, Damon has been keeping them up to date, via
reports, and footage, and sharing ideas, and knowledge of the offense.
They were so impressed with his development of the offense, he was been
invited to speak at the annual Single Wing Conclave in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania
from the 2nd to the 4th March..
Aztec Director for
Football and Senior team HC Mark Hopkins is delighted with Coach Kirby’s
success, “Damon is a great young coach, who also has bags of experience,
and has taken the personnel presented to him, and maximised their potential
using an unconventional offense, with excellent results, and its great
that this achievement has been recognised”. Ben Herod, Aztec Youth head
coach is delighted that his close friend and colleague is being given
this opportunity to share his experiences “It’s a development in the British
game that so many American coaches now come to these shores to pass on
their knowledge, it’s almost unheard of however for a British coach to
be travelling to the US to do the same”.
Proud of the Aztecs
Coach Kirby’s presentation
on the Aztec youth single wing went very well, and he recived a rapturous
applause. Todd Bross, founder and organizer of the single wing conclave
was particularly impressed “I have been privy to seeing many American
youth & high school teams run the single wing offense. The execution of
the offense by Coach Kirby's Bristol Aztecs were very well received by
his American coaching peers, and any coach in attendance would have been
proud to call the Aztecs their team. He and his Aztecs represent the single
wing offense and "brotherhood " of coaches very well, especially given
the issues he faces as far as sport education, player recruitment, severely
limited practice time and a total lack of financial support. He earned
the respect of coaches with hundreds of years of experience and we all
look forward to following the Aztecs in the future."
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